UN Security Council members call for emergency Ukraine meeting

The United States, Britain, France, Albania, Norway and Ireland have requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting Thursday because of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ukraine, diplomatic sources said.

“Russia is committing war crimes and targeting civilians,” the British diplomatic mission to the UN said Wednesday on its Twitter account. “Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine is a threat to us all.”

Earlier in the day, Russia asked to again postpone a UN Security Council vote on a resolution it drafted about the “humanitarian” situation in Ukraine.

The vote, first scheduled for Wednesday and then pushed to Thursday afternoon, is to be set for Friday morning — unless the draft is dropped altogether due to lack of support from Moscow’s allies.

Discussions are also underway, according to other diplomatic sources, to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak to the United Nations General Assembly.

France and Mexico, which drafted a resolution calling for a “cessation of hostilities” in Ukraine, have given up presenting their text to the Security Council, where Russia — which holds the rotating presidency for March — can veto it.

They were instead to present it to the General Assembly, where no country alone can block a text.

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